It’s a 6-week program that guides people through the science of nutrition, the ins-and-outs of shopping and preparing food, and successful strategies for long-term change. So often I see people ask about making diet changes and are told to either 1) read a book 2) attend an expensive retreat or training. Our goal with LIPPD is to have an accessible, simple program addressing every challenge in dietary behavior change. In many ways it’s everything I have learned in my 15 years in the field of nutrition condensed into 6 weeks. I’m really proud of the work we’ve done and I implore you to check it out in detail on the website!

While we focuse on type 2 diabetes prevention and are working primarily with pre-diabetics (an incredible 1 in 3 US adults have pre-diabetes), I believe the program is useful for everyone who wants to learn about nutrition, the pathophysiology of cardiovascular diseases, or simply how to make the changes they’ve always wanted to make! If you know me, or have heard me speak in-person or on podcasts, I’m all about simplicity. And this shows, I think, in this program through our video lessons, handouts, recipes, and structure. Plus it’s available world-wide as it’s fully online and tele-health compatible.

Since it’s new, we have it for an incredibly low price right now, so please do check it out and share it with anyone you think would be interested or who could benefit from such a program! All the info is at nutrinic.com.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more regular updates with the new site.

It has been awhile since I have posted, but today I have big news: I’ve opened a nutrition center in Pasadena, CA called Nutrinic!

Nutrinic is a place for you to send your friends and family who could benefit from eating healthier or who want to learn how to incorporate more plant-based meals. And we have video-based consulting for those not in Southern California.

Over the years, my small practice focused primarily on helping vegans and aspiring vegans to develop healthy eating habits. I will continue this work through Nutrinic, however our focus is on plant-based diets as therapeutic treatment and prevention of the major cardiovascular diseases, which together are the number one killer in America.
Our approach is different because we go beyond education by focusing on skill acquisition and habit building to sustain long-term change. Our goal is not successful diets, but new lifestyles.

Our services:

A one-time nutrition check-in to review your current diet and learn how you can make improvements.

The Fundamentals: a more intensive look at your eating patterns with a focus on addressing shortcomings and learning new skills and habits. Includes before and after lipid panels.

Want to go all-in, revamp your relationship with food, and learn the skills for continued health from shopping to cooking to habit formation? Our 21-day program is coming soon.

I have been a Registered Dietitian for 13 years and involved in the plant-based/vegan world for two decades and now is a time like no other. The evidence for the efficacy of plant-based diets in the prevention of disease is growing daily, as is the availability of vegan options in grocery stores and restaurants. It’s an exciting time!

This next chapter is big and I’m elated for what the future holds for plant-based nutrition. Thank you for being a part of this with me! Also please note that some changes are going to come to my website(s), please stay tuned.

Ps. We are having a small office warming party this Saturday at 5pm, if you’re local and would like to come, please let me know and I’ll happily send you the details.

I recently worked with The Discerning Brute to create a Men’s Guide to Nutrition that answers common questions and concerns dudes often have. Click the link or the banner below. This is the perfect page to send people who are spreading myths about vegan diets- there are lots of links and references with the science to back up the claims.

And have you seen the Strongest Hearts video where I interview Stic from Dead Prez and his wife Afya Ibomu? As a long time fan of Hip Hop and Dead Prez I was very excited to sit down with them and chat about health, RBG Fit Club, straight edge and more! Give it a watch and share with your friends. You never know who you are going to influence.

I have a very exciting couple of weeks with talks at the Portland Vegfest this Fri, Sat and Sun (yes, 3 talks!) and then I travel across the pond to visit Glasgow and the Scotland Vegfest. I’ll be speaking there Sat and Sun, December 5th and 6th.

Any recommendations in either of those cities? Do you plan on going? Be sure to say hi!

This Thursday I return to the difficult-to-spell state of Massachusetts to give a talk on vegan sports nutrition in Boston. It’s in collaboration with the Boston Veg Society and the Strong Hearts Vegan Power running team before they take on the Cape Cod Ragnar Relay! There’s a $15 vegan buffet option at the host restaurant, Walnut Grille. Please RSVP here for the dinner. The talk is free! There will also be a Q&A panel with some of the runners on the team. It’s a great opportunity to learn more about vegan nutrition- especially for curious friends who want to know how to eat plant-based and stay active. Can you still get enough protein? You sure can! Come learn how.

Little known fact: when I was a little kid I obsessively watched- and studied- Russel Simmons’ Def Comedy Jam because I wanted to be a stand-up comic. I never acted on that desire- except for always trying to be the funniest kid in class- but now I get to travel and speak in front of crowds in a different way. Not quite a comedian, but fortunately the bar is lower for being funny when you are talking about health and nutrition. So maybe I’m almost a comedian? Kind of like I am almost a stuntman- the only other ‘job’ I dreamed about when I was young. Just see Strongest Hearts for my stunt work!

This is just a long way of saying I’ve a number of speaking events happening in 2015. The next one up is in the East Bay this Sunday for the Berkeley Vegan Earth Day. If you are in the Bay Area please come by- there are excellent speakers and my friends from Food Empowerment Project (amongst others) will be tabling. I’ll have books and Strongest Hearts merchandise for sale too. My talk will be focused on the theme that you don’t need special or exotic foods to be a healthy vegan. I’ll talk about what constitutes healthy eating patterns, based on the research, and how to apply it to your own life. But in a fun/funny way. I hope.

Links and details for everything are below. Thanks to all the organizers; I’m grateful for these opportunities.

I’m generally a very optimistic person, but I’m also realistic and shy away from misleading people into thinking something is going to be easier than it is. Why? Because making long-term, sustainable health behavior change takes, well, a lot of change. And work. Preparing people for this work helps them overcome the barriers that will no doubt arise. Too often I see/hear those who have spent years thinking about eating well, good nutrition, veganism, exercise, etc as saying these things are easy to do. You just need to want it! Just be disciplined! They forget what it was like to not know what they know now. Think about that for a minute- what was it like before you had the knowledge you have now? Are you even able to?

When I broke my dominant arm last year I had to write with my other hand. It’s incredibly hard. Why? Because I’ve had a lifetime of developing the habits and muscles memory to use a specific hand. Switching over just doesn’t make sense to my brain. What is this we are trying to do?? That’s an extreme example though clear in how we learn our behaviors over a lifetime to a point where we don’t think about them. We interpret this as being ‘easy.’

Our world today is not just full of unhealthy food, but cheap, heavily advertised food served in large portions. When we look at individuals’ diet/nutrition from this perspective- the influential environment- it’s no wonder we are in a health crisis with rampant chronic disease.

The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that a young person in the US sees 3000 advertisements a day.

Three thousand! If those advertisements weren’t influential it wouldn’t be a billion dollar industry. It’s as if our environment has been engineered to make eating healthy as difficult as possible.

I’ve been thinking about this because this Wednesday night is my 3rd lecture of four at the Digital Gym (put on with Cycling Camp San Diego who are also hosting the epic Dirty Devil this Saturday!). I’ll be talking about this topic- why is it so hard to eat healthy? What are the factors working against us? It’s an important lecture if you’ve had trouble turning knowledge into action. You are not alone! The fourth lecture, on Wednesday April 1st, will cover the ‘how to’ of eating plant-based and healthy. You can sign up for both here for a discount!